Chapter 48

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Chapter 48

Within the dull light of the candle flame, Yan Ruyu saw a white-haired male meditating with crossed legs on the bed within the zen room. She moved to see the unfamiliar face and couldn’t help but express a slight shock on her face. The man lifted his eyes, the long, narrowed blue eyes stared at the person in front of him, just from this piercing gaze, Yan Ruyu’s suspicion was allayed, she kneeled down in front of the bed in fright, “Yan Ruyu pays respect to the sect leader.”

The white-haired male smiled lightly, “As expected of Ruyu, you really were born with a pair of clever eyes.”

“No, no, the sect leader is overpraising.”

Yan Ruyu covered her mouth to smile, her appearance was that of a girl at the best of her age, time had not yet marked her stunning face, only a pair of eyes showed a dead calmness that didn’t suit her exterior. “Ever since I[1] heard the news of the sect leader’s death, I# never dared to believe it and was greatly distressed. Yesterday, when Hu Fa Si invited me# to see an old friend of his, he said that if I# don’t go, then I# would definitely regret it for the rest of my life. So I# held some suspicions inside…unbelievably so, it really was the sect leader. But your face doesn’t look…”

Yan Ruyu studied the white-haired male’s face carefully, wanting to speak, but also stopping herself.

“That’s right, the face you’re seeing isn’t the result of a skin mask[2]. How could there be any disguise you couldn’t see through in this world?” Wu Yanfu rubbed his chin, “I* restored my soul by borrowing one’s corpse…”

Though it was just a light description, as Li Wuzhang heard it, he felt as if he’d been struck by lightning on the top of his head, his body immediately went stiff.

Yan Ruyu was immensely stunned, “There’s actually still such a miracle as restoring one’s soul by corpse in the world!”

“The owner of this body and I# were connected by the Life-Sharing Spell, so it couldn’t be counted as a miracle either. Every cause comes with a reason…Ruyu, do you understand why I’ve# summoned you here?”

Yan Ruyu had already realized without being told, she put the golden phoebe wood box she carried in her hand onto the bed. Taking a jade hairpin from her hair, she inserted it into the lotus-shaped opening, twisted, and the box let out a “ka-da” sound as it opened. The first layer inside the box was filled with various, little, silver-made weapons, knives, awls, hook swords, piercers, and everything one could think of. The second layer was a bunch of colorful porcelain bottles and boxes. Then on the bottom layer, there was an ice-cold mirror, in the shape of a face mask, underneath the mirror was a huge piece of, white, pristine…fresh human skin.

“I# only have these kinds of skills to make a living…even though the jobs at the royal palace have been easier, my# skills haven’t gone rusty yet, the sect leader can’t be satisfied with this current look, right?”

Wu Yanfu picked up a little crescent-shaped, silver dagger, his thumb skimmed past its blade, causing a bloody wound to be cut open. He pressed the drop of blood between his fingers, squinted his eyes, and spoke with a smile, “Ruyu is still so understanding of one’s ideals, but, are you able to remember my* appearance from back in the days?”

Yan Ruyu blinked, the crystal-clear eyes expressed embarrassment, “The sect leader’s peerless figure, how could anyone forget after one look? It’s just, to carve and change a face is delicate work. Details are to be carefully crafted onto the human skin, if there was a mistake, it’d be exceptionally hard to fix. A good piece of skin is so rarely found, and those that can be used for face carvings exist even less. Plus, before transmogrifying the face, I# still need to peel off the current skin on sect leader’s face in order to place the new face on top, I# dare not act carelessly. Could the sect leader possibly have a self-portrait on hand?”

“Naturally, no.” Wu Yanfu knitted his eyebrows, he glanced at the man standing next to him.

“This subordinate will go and illustrate one right now!” Si You caught his eye, he felt both happy and apprehensive at being acknowledged. Holding up a candle, he walked to the table beside the window, he keenly felt a flow of rippling air seeping in from the slit of the window.

His heart froze and he yelled, “Who’s out there?!” A long rope flew out of his sleeve like a dragon, abruptly passing through the wooden framed window!

Li Wuzhang moved to dodge in a hurry but failed to avoid it. The long rope caught his arm instantly, leading his body to stagnate, he wasn’t able to perform the Art of Hallucination before being dragged back into the room by the long rope. He fell in front of the bed, lifting his eyes, he saw Wu Yanfu looking at him with drooping eyes. The look was like a fire, his brain instantly felt like a dike collapsing from one ant hole, cracking open loudly.

Immediately, he was in a pathetic state of having lost a battle, not daring to escape nor look at the person on the bed anymore. He leaned to bow down, his head knocked against the ground heavily, hard enough for blood to leak out of his forehead, “Shi…Shi…Shizun…”

The room went silent for a while before he could hear a light chuckle.

“You still know to call this master Shizun? This master thought you’ve already forgotten whose disciple you were.”

There was a hint of playfulness in the male’s voice. But this hint of playfulness was just like a tiny little blade, swimming up against his throat. It made him want to die more than an outright punishment of de-boning and scraping flesh.

Li Wuzhang’s head never left the ground, it was as if his two hands were filled with lead, “Wuzhang does not dare to forget.”

“Does not dare to forget?” Wu Yanfu ridiculed, “You knew the little evildoer was plotting against this master back then, but you didn’t inform. This master’s life was on the edge while you acted as a bystander, then, also helped him to annihilate this master’s corpse…this master saw you behave in many treasonous acts, yet you seemed to have forgotten them, all nice and clear.”

Li Wuzhang knocked his head heavily against the ground again, letting out a bright sound, “This disciple…this disciple…indeed made great mistakes.”

“How does…this master treat you?”

Li Wuzhang continued to make loud head-knocks, leaving a puddle of blood on the ground.

“This disciple originally had no place to go, if it weren’t for Shizun, who was willing to take this disciple under him back then, dedicatedly teaching this disciple martial skills, then this disciple wouldn’t have been able to have a place in Jiang Hu. Shizun treated this disciple with grace as massive as a mountain. This disciple…this disciple knows that he can’t even be compared with a bastard,[3] Shizun, please give a great punishment to this disciple. Even if it’s to be slaughtered, this disciple won’t have any objections and only have one wish, Shizun, please don’t trouble Tan’er…Tan’er only acted on impulse then, he didn’t understand anything!”

Wu Yanfu listened to him calling “Tan’er” over and over, sounding as intimate as it could get, hints of shadow flashed by his eyes, “Beastly disciple, this master didn’t realize before…you’re truly a besotted individual.”

Li Wuzhang knew he was about to face great calamity, so he sealed his lips with no answers, his heart sunk to the bottom of an abyss.

Who he worried for wasn’t himself, but Bai Tan. His poor little Shidi only had so long to live already, if he knew that Shizun’s soul was kept under Tian Su’s shell, he would probably die from shock. Even if he doesn’t, to fall into Shizun’s hands, he would definitely have his claws detached and be pinched in the other’s hands, tortured viciously however they wanted. Someone as prideful and sensitive as him, if that were to happen, he would rather die than live.

That couldn’t happen, he needed to make it back alive, then quickly take Bai Tan to escape.

Once finished with his thoughts, he head-knocked again and bowed with an opened-hand folded over a fist, “Shizun…this disciple…disciple will go bring Tan’er over now to apologize together, would that be good?”

Wu Yanfu looked with dropped eyes at him, who was in a state of panic and not knowing what to do. His hand acted as fast as lighting, it slashed a cross onto his heart, “Apologize? There wouldn’t be a need. If you’ve really repented, you only need to keep a watch of that little evildoer for me, try to make him illustrate a painting in the coming days. As for what he needs to illustrate, you heard it earlier.”

After pushing open the door, and taking a few steps out, there was still a faint burning sensation from where Wu Yanfu’s fingertip had come in contact with his chest. Cold sweat leaked through Li Wuzhang’s clothing, but he felt that there was no big problem with his body, for a moment, he felt like he’d had enough luck to escape from death. He turned his head to look behind him, seeing that the two hadn’t followed him out, he hastened his pace to walk to the front of the zen room that Bai Tan stayed in. He knocked a few times, hearing no response from inside, he just pushed open the door to enter.

Seeing the view before his eyes, Li Wuzhang instantly went stiff.

He merely saw the delicate young male, alone by himself, fallen to the ground and unmoving. His headful of messy, raven hair covered most of his face, but dots of blood tinting his lips could still vaguely be seen. His hands were still in a clasped together position, it was obvious that he couldn’t hold it while meditating, leading to him falling off the bed.

He lunged, rushing over to hold the person up, his pupil immediately dilated……

A visible and heart-shaking redness covered the front of the young male’s chest, it was all the blood that he’d vomited out.

……

“For the sect leader to just let him go like so, aren’t you afraid he will immediately report the news of who you are to the little evildoer, urge for the little evildoer to escape, then it will be hard for the sect leader to take back his martial skills?” Si You closed the door before walking up to the bed’s side, he clenched the goat-hair brush in his hand, “Plus, that little evildoer doesn’t have any artistic ability, how can he illustrate the sect leader’s face appropriately? In the past, this subordinate has…illustrated the sect leader, how about allowing this subordinate to try?”

Yan Ruyu nodded, agreeing as she said, “That’s right, sect leader, Hu Fa Si has followed you for many years, he definitely knows of your special facial features well…why does the sect leader insist on having that traitor of a disciple to illustrate?”

Wu Yanfu’s long eyes were half-opened, it seemed like he was both smiling and not smiling as he spoke in a low voice, “Even though that traitorous disciple is despicable, but he has the talent of never forgetting anything he sees. The martial moves he learned in secret were all learned decently, he is deeply frightened of me* and has nightmares of seeing me* often, so naturally, he remembers my* appearance…it is deeply engraved in his heart.”

With a “ka-cha” sound, the brush in Si You’s hand broke in half, he walked to the table-side. As he held onto the broken goat-hair brush, he spread out the parchment used for copying mantras on the table. A few drops of blood seeped out between the spaces between his fingers, falling on the pure-white parchment, like plum blossoms falling on snow. His eyes sparkled like water, with a turn of the wrist, gorgeous, smooth, meandering lines of blood were born under the brush. Carefully outlining the peerless appearance from his memory.

“Everyone says that Hu Fa Si’s illustration skill has reached perfection, as expected, that’s a fully justified reputation.” Yan Ruyu almost lost her senses from watching, she couldn’t help but praise. Then she turned her head to look at the human skin on top of the ice-cold mirror with concern, she spoke to Wu Yanfu, “Sect leader, the portrait can wait, but the human skin can’t. Even with the ice-cold mirror here, if the human skin does not live by using the muscle-growing face cream to be stuck on flesh, it will still rot in just two to three days.”

Wu Yanfu scanned the portrait underneath the brush of the person beside him, he nodded slightly, “If that’s the case, then never mind, peel off this face for me* first.” He lay down on the bed after he finished his words.

Yan Ruyu reached to pick up a green porcelain bottle, poured some liquid medicine onto a handkerchief, and stretched towards Wu Yanfu’s face, she spoke softly, “Sect leader, this is anesthesia, you need to sniff it first so that I# can start.”

Before her voice even died out, her wrist was stopped by a finger, Wu Yanfu closed his eyes, speaking in a deep voice, “No need, I* can still endure such little pain. Something like anesthesia, I* never touch it.”

Yan Ruyu hesitantly persuaded, “Sect leader, if you don’t take the anesthesia, the pain will most likely be too hard to endure.”

“If it hurts, then let it hurt, when I* slaughtered my mother that year, I* should’ve been downed with the pain of skin peeling as well.”

“Yes, I# understand.” Yan Ruyu immediately withdrew her hand, not saying anything else. She knew that for someone like Wu Yanfu, who has stepped over so many mountains of corpses and seas of blood, he was always exceedingly cautious, even when sleeping, he would never fall into a deep slumber. To have him take the anesthesia would make him go into a state of unconsciousness, leaving his life in the hands of others would be even more of a fantasy.

Thinking so, she raised a little crescent-shaped dagger, dunked it in a little bottle of alcohol, then also dipped it into some milky-textured facial muscle-growing cream, and first placed her knife at the root of Wu Yanfu’s ear.

The cold blade skimmed past the male’s pale white skin, slitting open a long, bloody cut that reached down to his chin, just as the blood seeped out, even just a little would be congealed by the cream on the blade. As the knife-tip peeled open an inch of skin on this side, the brush-tip on the other side drew out one thin line on the paper. The human skin acted as paper, blade as brush, and blood as ink, the three components enhanced each other’s beauty under the firelight, almost as if it was a silent battle……Cruelty was still cruelty, elegance was still elegance.

Not long after, a piece of facial skin was peeled off completely, but the person on the bed hadn’t moved at all, his brows hadn’t even furrowed. Inside, Yan Ruyu couldn’t help but sigh, she cautiously stuck the human skin from the top of the mirror onto the bloody and flesh-exposed face. After carefully cutting away the excessive parts, it joined together with the skinless parts seamlessly, she then rubbed the muscle-growing cream on the edges as well. In an instant, the wound already disappeared, without a trace left behind.

Wu Yanfu held himself up with a hand on the side, the joints of his fingers were white from clenching.

.…..The endurance had just now started. The pain of skin and flesh rejecting each other, it most definitely surpassed the sensation of skin-peeling, it was as if there were thousands of ants eating away at the flesh. It made one wish to just rip off their facial skin, in order to scratch the flesh and bone underneath.

The Art of Transmogrification wasn’t as mystical as it had been spread in Jiang Hu, to change into a new individual, it obviously wouldn’t be so easy. It was like the Phoenix in Nirvana[4], or a moth breaking through its cocoon, it was all just cruel torture.

Undergoing such torture, what floated in his head was what the young male had said that day while being in a dizzy state, the corner of his lip seemed like it’d raised, but also didn’t.

Yan Ruyu used a handkerchief to wipe away the fresh blood on Wu Yanfu’s face for him, “Hu Fa Si, have you finished illustrating?”

Si You drew the last mark, shook the parchment a little then presented it in front of the two with both of his hands. Wu Yanfu’s appearance from back in the days was seen to have been drawn on the paper, it was truly handsome without a doubt, with a demonic aura, he appeared to be both a god and a demon.

Yan Ruyu’s eyes widened, “How vivid and lifelike, in-incredible.”

But Wu Yanfu was seen to be observing the portrait with his eyes squinted, not expressing agreement or disagreement. After a while, he still hadn’t said a word.

……

“Cough…”

Li Wuzhang coughed out a mouthful of fresh blood, he forced himself to endure as he sent pure energy into the young male’s Sea of Qi again. Once he felt his inner energy slowly starting to circulate inside his meridian, he finally retracted his palm in exhaustion. He checked below the young male’s nostrils, only to feel his thin breaths, he was obviously a dying person whose life was on the precipice of death.

He hugged the young male tightly, the clenching of his teeth let out clashing sounds, “You’re already at this stage, yet you think of helping others get treated…how many lives do you think you have?”

Bai Tan licked the fresh blood from the corner of his lips, he let out a breath, then muttered a little unclearly, “Shixiong, they all say, if one does not die from a great calamity, they must be blessed after. I’ve already died once, so why isn’t my blessing here yet?”

“It will come, it will come.” Li Wuzhang coaxed in a light voice. He supported the other up in an embrace, kicked open the window with one foot, and was ready to jump out while carrying him, but a sudden piercing pain came from his eyes.

He loosened his hands to cover his eyes, the person in his embrace fell onto the floor, said fall causing him to return to more of his senses. Bai Tan reluctantly opened his eyes to see Li Wuzhang in such a state, he couldn’t help but be weirded out, “What’s happening to you?”

Bai Tan supported his own body up before closing in towards him, but Li Wuzhang suddenly kneeled down. He pressed him into his embrace in one go, next to his ear, he spoke as he clenched his teeth, “Shidi…shidi, leave quickly!”

“Why? Just what is it with you?” Bai Tan resisted a bit only to feel that the person who was always kind and weak had applied an enormous amount of force to hug him, enough that, at that moment, he couldn’t struggle out of it.

“That Tian Su…he…he is…ah! Ah…ah!”

Before he could finish, Bai Tan heard Li Wuzhang shrieking, it seemed as if he was in unbearable pain. Bai Tan was shocked, he hurriedly grabbed tightly onto his arm, using all that he had to pull it aside. But Li Wuzhang bent over, covering his eyes with both hands, his ten fingers curled into claws, the trembling fingertips almost dug into his scalp.

Bai Tan immediately sealed a few of his acupoints, he took hold of his stiff arms then pulled them off of his face.

….….. A pair of long, fox eyes were shut tight, fresh blood poured out the corner of his eyes continuously, two squiggly marks of blood were made underneath his eyes, all clustering at the slightly twitching corner of his lips.

“Shizun…always warned me to not hold worries, do not allow a piece of leaf to cover my view before…With me continuously trapping myself, even making one mistake after another. Not being able to see, would be good too.”

T/N: Oh man, LWZ ;-; just knowing that he had fox eyes feels so weird too

Translator: Crispyfry

Proofreader: Grumpykit

QC: Xiao

Xiao’s Comments: I love the fact that Wu Yanfu inspire fears in everyone, even his own students but he’s so lenient toward Bai Tan so far. Oh, poor Li Wuzhang…

Translator’s Notes:

[1] I# (妾身) – She used the modest way of a woman addressing herself, mostly used by married women back in ancient China (which Gui Yu’er has also used before)

[2] “Skin mask” (易容) – the term WYF used literally meant “to disguise”, which doesn’t specify what he was talking about exactly, nor would it be smooth in English, so I changed it to the skin mask that are commonly used for disguise in these Wuxia (and etc) genre.

[3] Bastard (畜生) – This is a least common definition of the word in English, but when bastard/畜生 is usually used in Chinese, it’s comparing the person to a domesticated animal, calling them out for beast-like or despicable actions.

[4] Phoenix Nirvana (凤凰涅槃) – Buddhism myth saying, where a phoenix burns in fire to be reborn with eternal life.

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